Embraer plans to sell 50 planes in India over 10 yrs

Embraer, one of the world’s largest aerospace companies and leader in the category of commercial jets with up to 120 seats, is in talks with various airline companies and plans to sell over 50 aircraft in India over the next 10 years.

Embraer, one of the world’s largest aerospace companies and leader in the category of commercial jets with up to 120 seats, is in talks with various airline companies and plans to sell over 50 aircraft in India over the next 10 years.

Glock said the Indian commercial aviation market was one of the most exciting in the world with significant domestic passenger demand remaining to be tapped by local airlines. “The total annual domestic passenger traffic in India is around 44 million. Sixty one per cent of this, that is 27 million, is witnessed in category II and III cities, for which the Embraer commercial jets are best suited,” Glock said.

He said the kind of traffic that was being seen in secondary Indian cities was, in some cases, more than the entire domestic traffic of some European countries.

“To date, secondary (category II and II) routes have yet to fully benefit from airline industry liberalisation. Indeed, they will drive Indian domestic market growth in the coming decade,” he said.

Of the 337 jet-powered airplanes in operation today by Indian carriers, only 20 seat fewer than 120 passengers. The backlog of aircraft currently on firm order and to be delivered to scheduled Indian airlines includes 295 aircraft with an average seating capacity of 185 passengers.

Embraer expects that year-on-year passenger demand on category II and III routes will grow at twice the rate of category I routes for calendar year 2010 and estimates that 85 domestic Indian routes, which currently lack nonstop flights, would support sufficient levels of passenger traffic to justify at least five-times-a-week roundtrip flights with a 70-seat airplane.